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What's the feeling on Pasternak? He's intriguing, but worrying because he draws parallels to Tedenby. He's been scoring at a great pace, been playing in the Swedish Elite League against men, but he's weighing in at under 170 and they say he's 6 foot, but he could be much smaller. After all, Tedenby's official height was listed at 5'10", which was very generous because we all know he was smaller than that.

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also think Lou was more than happy to "let" Kovi "retire" so he can start building a team HIS way

To this day, I think it was mutual. I can't help but think Lou sensed Kovy's interest in returning to Russia and approached him with the scenario. And both parties left the drawing board extremely happy.

And then our team's sale went through later that month.

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Pastrnak is actually one of my favorites in this Draft, he does have a bit of a boom or bust quality to him but I feel like we actually need a prospect like that, we've made our "safe" picks with guys like Josefson but we need to inject some real skill into our prospect pool, all we have at the moment is Boucher really and I feel it's worth the risk to take a player like Pastrnak.

And not to mention, we can ALWAYS use some more Czech players, what happens when Elias retires? We have to meet that quota.

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I would love to get Pastrnak if he fell to 30. Sure he's not a big guy but he did well as a 17 year old in the Allsvenskan: 36 GP 8-16-24. Pronman ranked him 16th and praised his puck handling, hockey IQ, and skating. He's a bit weak physically but he's still young and the Devils need to get guys with skill in the system badly. Future Considerations has him ranked 18th and like Pronman praised his offensive skills and mentioned his defensive game will need work.

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I would love to get Pastrnak if he fell to 30. Sure he's not a big guy but he did well as a 17 year old in the Allsvenskan: 36 GP 8-16-24. Pronman ranked him 16th and praised his puck handling, hockey IQ, and skating. He's a bit weak physically but he's still young and the Devils need to get guys with skill in the system badly. Future Considerations has him ranked 18th and like Pronman praised his offensive skills and mentioned his defensive game will need work.

I agree w/ his talent, but did you see him get rocked in that video? I'm always a lil weary of concussed players especially early on. But I'd be happy with him @ 30. He shoots right too

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Agreed about Pastrnak - he would be a great pick at 30. I get the feeling that even though there is no MacKinnon or Drouin in this draft, there is a lot of skill throughout the first two rounds. I'm just looking at some of the European-born players now, and it seems pretty likely that one of Pastrnak, Vrana, Kempe, Goldobin, Scherbak, Karlsson, or Barbashev could be available at 30. All of the most recent rankings have at least one of those guys after 30, and a couple in the mid to late 20s.

If we're able to grab two forwards in the first two rounds, maybe this will be the year that the Devils finally get some young talent in the system.

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Agreed about Pastrnak - he would be a great pick at 30. I get the feeling that even though there is no MacKinnon or Drouin in this draft, there is a lot of skill throughout the first two rounds. I'm just looking at some of the European-born players now, and it seems pretty likely that one of Pastrnak, Vrana, Kempe, Goldobin, Scherbak, Karlsson, or Barbashev could be available at 30. All of the most recent rankings have at least one of those guys after 30, and a couple in the mid to late 20s.

If we're able to grab two forwards in the first two rounds, maybe this will be the year that the Devils finally get some young talent in the system.

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Young forward talent is what I meant. Obviously, the future looks good on defense (Severson). Boucher, Bell, and Pietila haven't convinced me of much yet, though. While Matteau should be an effective player, he probably won't be a huge scorer.

Anyway, what do you guys think of Anthony DeAngelo? Apparently, he's had some off ice issues, but he seems like a very skilled player. It might be a bit of a risk, but he could be worth it at 41 if he's the BPA. I know defensemen are not what we're after now, but this kid puts up a lot of points.

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There's a lot of players in the 20-35 range that I like a lot but a lot of then I could see not being there at the 30th pick (Goldobin, Scherbak, Pastrnak) but I think Vrana and Bleackley would be safe bets to be there at 30 and think either would be a solid pick, my pick would be Bleackley. And I notice a lot of people mentioning Karlsson, I actually see him as a possibility at 41

I like DeAngelo, we obviously have enough defense but I think he has the talent to go in Round 1

Maybe Bleackly at 41? It would be amazing to grab 2 of any of these 20-35 range forwards at 30 and 41. After that maybe pickup one defensemen, but I think this draft should be very forwards heavy for us.

Spent most of the year as a 17 year old in the strong OHL putting up some nice numbers: 65 GP 27-26-53, 145 PIM in the regular season and 11 GP 7-3-10, 16 PIM in the playoffs. Nice size at 6'1, 210 already.

Hockey Prospect mentions that he's a super pest (surprise, surprise) and excellent around the net. Pro shot, smart player, has improved his skating, wins puck battles, strong on the cycle.

Future Considerations mentions his skating is still improving (mainly first strides need work), praises his shot and puck protection, and has his NHL potential as top 9 physical power winger.

Pronman notes that he has a strong hockey IQ but needs to stay away from taking bad penalties. Has the chance to be a scoring, physical winger if he pans out.

Seems like he may not have a high end ceiling but is a "safer" bet to become a NHL player than some of the more highly touted guys. I'd be happy if the Devils could get him.

Spent most of the year as a 17 year old in the strong OHL putting up some nice numbers: 65 GP 27-26-53, 145 PIM in the regular season and 11 GP 7-3-10, 16 PIM in the playoffs. Nice size at 6'1, 210 already.

Hockey Prospect mentions that he's a super pest (surprise, surprise) and excellent around the net. Pro shot, smart player, has improved his skating, wins puck battles, strong on the cycle.

Future Considerations mentions his skating is still improving (mainly first strides need work), praises his shot and puck protection, and has his NHL potential as top 9 physical power winger.

Pronman notes that he has a strong hockey IQ but needs to stay away from taking bad penalties. Has the chance to be a scoring, physical winger if he pans out.

Seems like he may not have a high end ceiling but is a "safer" bet to become a NHL player than some of the more highly touted guys. I'd be happy if the Devils could get him.

I'd be happy with him, but I kind of like the idea of going for broke with a boom or bust kind of player like Anton Karlsson or even Deangelo, but maybe at 41. You obviously would rather have someone who turns into a third or forth liner above someone who never makes it, but it just seems like we enough prospects who fit that kind of role.

Edit: although the idea of having Matteau and Lemieux on a line together is very intriguing.

Lemieux sounds very much like Matteau. I wouldn't be against it though even if they play the same style. Guys that play that style can succeed in the NHL and are a necessity in the NHL size rink and especially with the kind of game you see in the playoffs.

I'd be intrigued what our scouts think of him. He could be available too down at 41.

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I like DeAngelo, we obviously have enough defense but I think he has the talent to go in Round 1

I'm not opposed to taking D early since most of the Devils D prospects will be pro next year. In my opinion, I think I'd rather go with a D prospect like Julius Honka (WHL - Swift Current) over DeAngelo based on what I've read from a lot of the draft publications.

Both guys are RD and listed at 5'11 with Honka having a slight weight advantage. Both with high offensive skill. Hockey Prospect has Honka ranked 23rd with DeAngelo 34th. Future Considerations has Honka ranked 31st with DeAngelo 29th. Pronman has Honka ranked 29th with DeAngelo 37th. Based off everything I've read, Honka seems better defensively and doesn't have as many holes in his game as DeAngelo who really seems boom or bust.

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I'd be happy with him, but I kind of like the idea of going for broke with a boom or bust kind of player like Anton Karlsson or even Deangelo, but maybe at 41. You obviously would rather have someone who turns into a third or forth liner above someone who never makes it, but it just seems like we enough prospects who fit that kind of role.

Edit: although the idea of having Matteau and Lemieux on a line together is very intriguing.

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Fair point and I definitely agree they need to go for some skill/upside guys but I still think the Devils could have a shot at a one at 41 even if they took Lemieux at 30. Hard to get a read on who will get drafted where but it seems like skilled guys such as Goldobin, Point, Ho-Sang to name a few could fall.

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I'd be happy with him, but I kind of like the idea of going for broke with a boom or bust kind of player like Anton Karlsson or even Deangelo, but maybe at 41. You obviously would rather have someone who turns into a third or forth liner above someone who never makes it, but it just seems like we enough prospects who fit that kind of role.

Edit: although the idea of having Matteau and Lemieux on a line together is very intriguing.

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I totally agree. I don't know if you could write a better story with the young Matteau and young Lemieux ending up on the same team. I like the idea of picking up Lemieux, so I think he's on my shortlist too right now. The report I read on NHL.com said he's a finisher, and we could use one of those.

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I'm not opposed to taking D early since most of the Devils D prospects will be pro next year. In my opinion, I think I'd rather go with a D prospect like Julius Honka (WHL - Swift Current) over DeAngelo based on what I've read from a lot of the draft publications.

Both guys are RD and listed at 5'11 with Honka having a slight weight advantage. Both with high offensive skill. Hockey Prospect has Honka ranked 23rd with DeAngelo 34th. Future Considerations has Honka ranked 31st with DeAngelo 29th. Pronman has Honka ranked 29th with DeAngelo 37th. Based off everything I've read, Honka seems better defensively and doesn't have as many holes in his game as DeAngelo who really seems boom or bust.